Eritreans in Sudan said a man extradited to Italy and accused of being a kingpin in an international people-smuggling ring was actually one of their friends and police had arrested the wrong man.

Italian and British officials said on Wednesday they had worked together to secure the arrest of Medhanie Yehdego Mered, nicknamed "the General", in Sudan and hailed his extradition as a rare victory in the struggle against human trafficking.

Italian police released a video of the man they said was Mered arriving at an airport in Rome, but two Eritreans who live in Sudan said yesterday it was a case of mistaken identity.

Instead, the man is Medhanie Tesfamariam Berhe, an Eritrean refugee who wanted to emigrate to Europe, the two friends said.

Other Eritrean witnesses in Sudan told the 'Guardian' newspaper the same thing.

"I know personally the man arrested and extradited to Italy and he is the wrong person. He came to Sudan recently and still cannot speak Arabic, but his first name is the same as Medhane," Haile, a 45-year-old Eritrean refugee in Sudan, said.

A second Eritrean man, Tisfai, said: "For sure the person who was arrested is not the General . . . It is difficult to capture the General because he is like a ghost, moving from one place to another."

Both men declined to give their full names for fear of reprisal by gangs or Sudanese authorities, they said.

Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) said on Wednesday it helped track down Mered in Sudan.

In response to the 'Guardian' article, an NCA spokesperson said: "This is a complex multi-partner operation and it is too soon to speculate about these claims."

Palermo prosecutors are scheduled to hold a first interview with the alleged smuggler today in Rome, where he is being held.

Because they have numerous recordings of Mered in telephone conversations, prosecutors are considering the use of voice recognition software to help determine whether they got the smuggler or someone else, judicial sources said.

The court's chief prosecutor, Francesco Lo Voi, said he had no comment at this time, but Italy's Ansa news agency quoted Lo Voi saying "the arrest, delivery and extradition to Italy were officially communicated by the National Crime Agency and Sudan authorities through Interpol."